
ADDRESS 

xx.- • 


OF 


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ON. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, 


VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 


PRECEDING 


THE REMOVAL OF THE SENATE FROM THE OLD 
TO THE NEW CHAMBER; 


DELIVERED 


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 4, 1859. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. 

1859. 











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ADDRESS. 


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The report of the special committee appointed to make 
arrangements for the removal of the Senate from the old to 
the new Chamber having been read and adopted— 

The VICE PRESIDENT said: 

Senators: I have been charged by the commit¬ 
tee to whom you confided the arrangements of this 
day, with the duty of expressing some of the re¬ 
flections that naturally occur in taking final leave 
of a Chamber which has so long been occupied 
by the Senate. In the progress of our country 
and the growth of the representation, this room 
has become too contracted for the representatives 
of the States now existing and soon to exist; and 
accordingly you are about to exchange it for a 
Hall affording accommodations adequate to the 
present and the future. The occasion suggests 
many interesting reminiscences; and it may be 
agreeable, in the first place, to occupy a few min¬ 
utes with a short account of the various places at 
which Congress has assembled, of the struggles 
which preceded the permanent location of the seat 
of Government, and of the circumstances under 
which it was finally established on the banks of 
the Potomac. 

The Congress of the Revolution was sometimes 
a fugitive, holding its sessions, as the chances of 
war required, at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lan¬ 
caster, Annapolis, and Yorktown. During the 
period between the conclusion of peace and the 
commencement of the present Government, it 
met at Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and New 
York. 

After the idea of a permanent Union had been 
executed in part by the adoption of the Articles 
of Confederation, the question presented itself of 


fixing a seat of Government, and this immediately 
called forth intense interest and rivalry. 

That the place should be central, having regard 
to the population and territory of the Confederacy, 
was the only point common to the contending 
parties. Propositions of all kinds were offered, 
debated, and rejected, sometimes with intemper¬ 
ate warmth. At length, on the 7th of October, 
1783, the Congress being at Princeton, whither 
they had been driven from Philadelphia, by the 
insults of a body of armed men, it was resolved 
that a building for the use of Congress be erected 
near the falls of the Delaware. This was soon 
after modified by requiring suitable buildings to 
be also erected near the falls of the Potomac, that 
the residence of Congress might alternate between 
those places. But the question was not allowed 
to rest, and at length, after frequent and warm 
debates, it was resolved that the residence of Con¬ 
gress should continue at one place; and commis¬ 
sioners were appointed, with full power to lay¬ 
out a district for a Federal town near the falls of 
the Delaware; and in the mean time Congress as¬ 
sembled alternately at Trenton and Annapolis; 
but the representatives of other States were unre¬ 
mitting in exertions for their respective localities. 

On the 23d of December, 1784, it was resolved 
to remove to the city of New York, and to re¬ 
main there until the building on the Delaware 
should be completed; and accordingly, on the 11th 
of January, 1785, the Congress met at New York, 
where they continued to hold their sessions until 
the Confederation gave place to the Constitution. 

The Commissioners to lay out a town on the 
Delaware reported their proceedings to Congress; 










but no further steps were taken to carry the res¬ 
olution into effect. 

When the bonds of union were drawn closer by 
the organization of the new Government under 
the Constitution, on the 3d of March, 1789, the 
subject was revived and discussed with greater 
warmth than before. It was conceded on all sides 
that the residence of Congress should continue at 
one place,and the prospect of stability in the Gov¬ 
ernment invested the question with a deeper in¬ 
terest. Some members proposed New York, as 
being “ superior to any place they knew for the 
orderly and decent behavior of its inhabitants.” 
To this it was answered that it, was not desirable 
that the political capital should be in a commer¬ 
cial metropolis. Others ridiculed the idea of build¬ 
ing palaces in the woods. Mr. Gerry, of Massa¬ 
chusetts, thought it highly unreasonable to fix the 
seat of Government in such a position as to have 
nine States of the thirteen to the northward of the 
place; while the South Carolinians objected to 
Philadelphia on account of the number of Qua¬ 
kers, who, they said, continually annoyed the ! 
southern members with schemes of emancipation. 

In the midst of these disputes, the House of 
Representatives resolved, “ that the permanent 
seat of Government ought to be at some conve¬ 
nient place on the banks of the Susquehanna.” 
On the introduction of a bill to give effect to this 
resolution, much feeling was exhibited,especially 
by the southern members. Mr. Madison thought i 
if the proceeding of that day had been foreseen 
by Virginia, that State might not have become a 
party to the Constitution. The question was a!- j 
lowed by every member to be a matter of great 
importance. Mr. Scott said the future tranquillity 
and well-being of the United States depended as 
much on this as on any question that ever had, 
or could, come before Congress; and Mr. Fisher 
Ames remarked that every principle of pride and 
honor and even of patriotism were engaged. For 
a time, any agreement appeared to be impossible; 
but the good genius of our system finally prevailed, 
and on the 28th of J une, 1790 , an act was passed 
containing the following clause: 

Ci That a district of territory on the river Potomac, at some 
place between the mouths of the eastern branch and the 
Connogoclieague, be, and the same is hereby, accepted, for 
the permanent seat of the Govern mentofthe United States.” 

The same act provided that Congress should j 
hold its sessions at Philadelphia until the first j 
Monday in November, 1800, when the Govern¬ 
ment should remove to the district selected on the 


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Potomac. Thus was settled a question which had 
produced much sectional feeling between the 
States. But all difficulties were not yet surmount¬ 
ed; for Congress, either from indifference, or the 
want of money, failed to make adequate appro¬ 
priations for the erection of public buildings, and 
the commissioners were often reduced to great 
straits to maintain the progress of the work. 
Finding it impossible to borrow money in Europe, 
or to obtain it from Congress, Washington, in 
December, 1796, made a personal appeal to the 
Legislature of Maryland, which was responded to 
by an advance of $100,000; but in so deplorable 
a condition was the credit of the Federal Govern¬ 
ment that the State required, as a guarantee of 
payment, the pledge of the private credit of the 
commissioners. 

FrOm the beginning Washington had advocated 
th«e present seat of Government. Its establish¬ 
ment here was due, in a large measure, to his in¬ 
fluence; it was his wisdom and prudence that com¬ 
puted disputes and settled conflicting titles; and 
it was chiefly through his personal influence that 
the funds were provided to prepare the buildings 
for the reception of the President and Congress. 

The wings of the Capitol having been sufficient¬ 
ly prepared, the Government removed to this D is- 
trict on the 17th of November, 1800; or as Mr. 
Wolcott expressed it, left the comforts of Phila¬ 
delphia “ to go to the Indian place with the long 
name, in the woods on the Potomac.” I will not 
pause to describe the appearance, at that day, of 
the place where the city was to be. Cotempo¬ 
rary accounts represent it as desolate in the ex¬ 
treme, with its long, unopened avenues and 
streets, its deep morasses, and its vast area cov¬ 
ered with trees instead of houses. It is enough 
to say that Washington projected the whole plan 
upon a scale of centuries, and that time enough 
remains to fill the measure of his great conception. 

The Senate continued to occupy the north wing, 
and the House of Representatives the south wing 
of the Capitol, until the 24th of August, 1814, 
when the British army entered the city and burned 
the public buildings. This occurred during the 
recess, and the President immediately convened 
the Congress. Both Houses met in a brick build¬ 
ing known as Blodget’s Hotel, which occupied a 
part of the square now covered by the General 
Post Office. But the accommodations in that 
house being quite insufficient, a number of public- 
spirited citizenserecteda more commodious build- 

















ing, on Capitol Hill, and tendered it to Congress; 
the offer was accepted, and both Houses continued 
to occupy it until the wings of the new Capitol 
were completed. This building yet stands on the 
street opposite to the northeastern corner of the 
Capitol Square, and has since been occasion¬ 
ally occupied by persons employed in different 
branches of the public service. 

On the Gth of December, 1819, the Senate as¬ 
sembled for the first time in this Chamber, which 
has been the theater of their deliberations for 
more than thirty-nine years. 

And now the strifes and uncertainties of the 
past are finished. We see around us on every 
side the proofs of stability and improvement. 
This Capitol is worthy of the Republic. Noble 
public buildings meet the view on every hand. 
Treasures of science and the arts begin to accu¬ 
mulate. As this flourishing city enlarges, it tes¬ 
tifies to the wisdom and forecast that dictated the 
plan of it. Future generations will not be dis¬ 
turbed with questions concerning the center of 
population, or of territory, since the steamboat, 
the railroad, and the telegraph have made com¬ 
munication almost instantaneous. The spot is 
sacred by a thousand memories, which are so 
many pledges that the city of Washington, 
founded by him and bearing his revered name, 
with its beautiful site, bounded by picturesque 
eminences, and the broad Potomac, and lying 
within view of his home and his tomb, shall 
remain forever the political capital of the United 
States. 

It would be interesting to note the gradual 
changes which have occurred in the practical 
working of the Government, since the adoption 
of the Constitution; and it may be appropriate to 
this occasion to remark one of the most striking 
of them. 

At the origin of the Government, the Senate 
seemed to be regarded chiefly as an executive 
council. The President often visited the Cham¬ 
ber and conferred personally with this body; most 
of its business was transacted with closed doors, 
and it took comparatively little part in the legis¬ 
lative debates. The rising and vigorous intellects 
of the country sought the arena of the House of 
Representatives as the appropriate theater for the 
display of their powers. Mr. Madison observed, 
on some occasion, that being a young man, and 
desiring to increase his reputation, he could not 
afford to enter the Senate; and it will be remem¬ 


bered , that, so late as 1812, the great debates which 
preceded the war and aroused the country to the 
assertion of its rights, took place in the other 
branch of Congress. To such an extent was the 
idea of seclusion carried, that, when this Cham¬ 
ber was completed, no seats were prepared for 
the accommodation of the public; and it was not 
until many years afterwards that the semi-circu¬ 
lar gallery was erected which admits the people 
to be witnesses of your proceedings. But now, 
the Senate, besides its peculiar relations to the 
executive department of the Government, assumes 
its full share of duty as a coequal branch of the 
Legislature; indeed, from the limited number of 
its members, and for other obvious reasons, the 
most important questions, especially of foreign 
policy, are apt to pass first under discussion in 
this body, and to be a member of it is justly re¬ 
garded as one of the highest honors which can be 
conferred on an American statesman. 

It is scarcely necessary to point out the causes 
of this change, or to say that it is a concession 
l both to the importance and the individuality of 
i the States, and to the free and open character of 
the Government. 

In connection with this easy but thorough trans¬ 
ition, it is worthy of remark that it has been ef¬ 
fected without a charge from any quarter that the 
Senate, has transcended its constitutional sphere— 
a tribute at once to the moderation of the Senate, 

| and another proof to thoughtful men of the com- 
prenensive wisdom with which the framers of the 
Constitution secured essential principles without 
inconveniently embarrassing the action of the 
Government. 

The progress of this popular movement, in one 
aspect of it, has been steady and marked. At 
the origin of the Government no arrangements 
in the Senate were made for spectators; in this 
Chamber about one third of the space is allotted 
to the public; and in the new apartment the gal¬ 
leries cover two thirds of its area. In all free 
countries the admission of the people to witness 
legislative proceedings is an essential element of 
public confidence; and it is not to be anticipated 
i that this wholesome principle will ever be abused 
by the substitution of partial and interested dem- 
: onstrations for the expression of a matured and 
| enlightened public opinion. Yet it should never 
be forgotten that not France, but the turbulent 
spectators within the Hall, awed and controlled 
! the French Assembly. With this lesson and its 














6 


consequence before us, the time will never come 
when the deliberations of the Senate shall be 
swayed by the blandishments or the thunders of 
the galleries. 

It is impossible to disconnect from an occa¬ 
sion like this, a crowd of reflection on our past 
history, and of speculations on the future. The 
most meager account of the Senate involves a 
summary of the progress of our country. From I 
year to year you have seen your representation I 
enlarge; time and again you have proudly wel- : 
corned a new sister into the Confederacy; and the 
occurrences of this day are a material and im- I 
pressive proof of the growth and prosperity of j 
the United States. Three periods in the history 
of the Senate mark, in striking contrast, three i 
epochs in the history of the Union. 

On the 3d of March, 1789, when the Govern¬ 
ment was organized under the Constitution, the 
Senate was composed of the representatives of 
eleven States, containing three millions of people. 

On the 6th of December, 1819, when the Sen¬ 
ate met for the first time in this room, it was 
composed of the representatives of twenty-one 
States, containing nine millions of people. 

To-day it is composed of the representatives of 
thirty-two States, containing more than twenty- 
eight millions of people, prosperous, happy, and 
still devoted to constitutional liberty. Let these 
great facts speak for themselves to all the world. 

The career of the United States cannot be 
measured by that of any other people of whom 
history gives account; and the mind is almost 
appalled at the contemplation of the prodigious 
force which has marked their progress. Sixty- 
nine years ago, thirteen States containing three 
millions of inhabitants, burdened with debt, and 
exhausted by the long war of independence, es¬ 
tablished for their common good a free Constitu¬ 
tion, on principles new to mankind, and began 
their experiment with the good wishes of a few 
doubting friends and the derision of the world. 
Look at the result to-day; twenty-eight millions 
of people, in every way happier than an equal 
number in any other part of the globe ! the center 
of population and political power descending the 
western slopes of the Alleghany mountains, and 
theoriginal thirteen States forming but the eastern | 
margin on the map of our vast possessions. See j 
besides, Christianity, civilization, and the arts 
given to a continent; the despised colonies grown : 
into a Power of the first class, representing and j 
protecting ideas that involve the progress of the i 


human race; a commerce greater than thatof any 
other nation; free interchange between the States; 
every variety of climate, soil, and production to 
make a people powerful and happy—in a word, 
behold present greatness, and, in the future, an 
empire to which the ancient mistress of the world 
in the height of her glory could not be compared. 
Such is»our country; ay, and more—far more 
than my mind could conceive or my tongue could 
utter. Is there an American who regrets the past ? 
Is there one who will deride his country’s laws, 
pervert her Constitution, or alienate her people? 
If there be such a man, let his memory descend 
to posterity laden with the execrations of all 
mankind. 

So happy is the political and social condition 
of the United States, and so accustomed are we 
to the secure enjoyment of a freedom elsewhere 
unknown, that we are apt to undervalue the treas¬ 
ures we possess, and to lose, in some degree, the 
sense of obligation to our forefathers. But when 
the strifes of faction shake the Government, and 
even threaten it, we may pause with advantage 
long enough to remember that we are reaping the 
reward of other men’s labors. This liberty we 
inherit; this admirable Constitution, which has 
survived peace and war, prosperity and adversity; 
this double scheme of Government, State and 
Federal, so peculiar and so little understood by 
other Powers, yet which protects the earnings of 
industry, and makes the largest personal freedom 
compatible with public order; these great results 
were not acquired without wisdom and toil and 
blood—the touching and heroic record is before 
the world. But to all this we were born, and, like 
heirs upon whom has been cast a great inherit¬ 
ance, have only the high duty to preserve, to ex¬ 
tend, and to adorn it. The grand productions of 
the era in which the foundations of this Govern¬ 
ment were laid, reveal the deep sense its founders 
had of their obligations to the whole family of 
man. Let us never forget that the responsibili¬ 
ties imposed on this generation are by so much 
the greater than those which rested on our revo¬ 
lutionary ancestors, as the population, extent, 
and power of our country surpass the dawning 
promise of its origin. 

It would be a pleasing task to pursue many 
trains of thought, not wholly foreign to this oc¬ 
casion, but the temptation to enter the wide field 
must be rigorously curbed; yeti maybe pardoned, 
perhaps, for one or two additional reflections. 

The Senate is assembled for the last time in 














7 


this Chamber. Henceforth it will be converted to | 
other uses; yet it must remain forever connected i 
with great events, and sacred to the memories of! 
the departed orators and statesmen who here en- i 
gaged in high debates, and shaped the policy of; 
their country. Hereafter the American and the J 
stranger, as they wander through the Capitol, 
will turn with instinctive reverence to view the i 
spot on which so many and great materials have 
accumulated for history. They will recall the 
images of the great and the good, whose renown i 
is the common property of the Union; and chit-fly, 
perhaps, they will linger around the seats once j 
occupied by the mighty three, whose names and 
fame, associated in life, death has not been able 
to sever; illustrious men, who in their generation 
sometimes divided, sometimesled, and sometimes 
resisted public opinion—for they were of that 
higher class of statesmen who seek the right and 
follow their convictions. 

There sat Calhoun, the Senator, inflexible, aus¬ 
tere, oppressed, but not overwhelmed by his deep 
sense of the importance of his public functions; 
seeking the truth, then fearlessly following it—a: 
man whose unsparing intellect compelled all his 
emotions to harmonize with the deductions of his 
rigorous logic, and whose noble countenance hab- : 
itualiy wore the expression of one engaged in the ■ 
performance of high public duties. • 

This was Webster’s seat. He, too, was every 
inch a Senator. Conscious of his own vast pow¬ 
ers, he reposed with confidence on himself; and 
scorning the contrivances of smaller men, he stood 
among his peers all the greater for the simple dig- j 
nily of his senatorial demeanor. Type of his 
northern home, he rises before the imagination, in 
the grand and granite outline of his form and in¬ 
tellect, like a great New England rock, repelling 
a New England wave. As a writer, his produc¬ 
tions will be cherished by statesmen and scholars 
while the English tongue is spoken. As a sen¬ 
atorial orator, his great efforts are historically as¬ 
sociated with this Chamber, whose very air seems 
yet to vibrate beneath the strokes of his deep tones 
and his weighty words. 

On the outer circle, sat Henry Clay, with his im-; 
petuous and ardent nature untamed by age, and 


exhibiting in the Senate the same vehement pat¬ 
riotism and passionate eloquence that of yore elec¬ 
trified the House of Representatives and the coun¬ 
try. His extraordinary personal endowments, his 
courage, all his noble qualities, invested him with 
an individuality and a charm of character which, 
in any age, would have made him a favorite of 
history. He loved his country above all earthly 
objects. He loved liberty in all countries. Illus¬ 
trious man! — orator, patriot, philanthropist— 
whose light, at its meridian, was seen and felt in 
the remotest parts of the civilized world; and 
whose declining sun, as it hastened down the 
west, threw back its level beams, in hues of mel¬ 
lowed splendor, to illuminate and to cheer the 
land he loved and served so well. 

11 the States may point, with gratified pride, 
to the services in the Senate of their patriotic sons. 
Crowding the memory, come the names of Adams, 
Hayne, Wright, Mason, Otis, Macon, Pinck¬ 
ney, and the rest—I cannot number them—who, 
in the record of their acts and utterances, appeal 
to their successors to give the Union a destiny 
not unw’orthy of the past. What models were 
these, to awaken emulation or to plunge in de¬ 
spair! Fortunate will be the American statesmen 
who, in this age, or in succeeding times, shall 
contribute to invest the new Hall to which we go, 
with historic memories like those which cluster 
here. 

And now, Senators, we leave this memorable 
Chamber, bearing with us, unimpaired,the Con¬ 
stitution we received from our forefathers. Let 
us cherish it with grateful acknowledgments to 
the Divine Power who controls the destinies of 
empires and whose goodness we adore. The 
structures reared by men yield to the corroding 
tooth of time. These marble walls must molder 
into ruin; but the principles of constitutional lib¬ 
erty, guarded by wisdom and virtue, unlike ma¬ 
terial elements, do not decay. Let us devoutly 
trustthat another Senate, in another age, shall bear 
to a new and larger Chamber, this Constitution 
vigorous and inviolate, and that the last genera- 
I tion of posterity shall witness the deliberations of 
J the Representatives of American States still uni- 
ted, prosperous, and free. 
































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